What We Learned About Online Education in 2020

According to the forecasts, the distance learning market is growing rapidly. Its current volume is 6.5 trillion dollars, and by 2030 it will reach 10 trillion dollars. Here is an overview of how education has changed over the coronavirus period.

During this year, we at Examus closely followed the trends in the global education market and came up with some interesting conclusions.

1. Most subjects can be taught remotely.

Higher-education institutions were the first to go completely online. For example, in the United States, blended education (when teaching methods of traditional classrooms are combined with online learning) was actively developing over the last few years. The pandemic simply shifted the focus to distance learning. Even physical education and sports lessons moved online, where each class consisted of a short theoretical section and practical exercises, such as dancing, yoga, stretching, etc.

One of the first pandemic consequences was a wave of layoffs and an increase in unemployment. Many people had to find a new profession or learn additional skills. The highest demand was for business and financial management courses, IT technologies, psychology, healthcare, and HR. Users studied online with audio and video training materials, practical exercises, and more. For the first time, we have a slew of specialists who have received their education online. There is no doubt that the trend towards distance vocational training will continue even after the pandemic ends.

2. The quality of education is improving.

It turned out that checking how students approach lessons at home and whether they cheat on online exams was hardly possible. Fortunately, AI proctoring technologies can successfully manage this issue. Collaboration between AI and a human proctor tracks any prohibited actions of test-takers. All kinds of cheating attempts, such as drafts and notes, switching between browser tabs, or launching third-party applications, will be detected immediately.

Students are very creative and always devise new ideas to break the rules. They use virtual machines, screen mirrors, external projectors, hi-tech devices, and other ingenious ways. At Examus, we are continually improving the accuracy of violation detection. We have recently significantly updated our software and launched a new product, Examus Verbal, which conducts online oral exams successfully and ensures that all students pass them honestly. Therefore, since students have to take exam preparation seriously, our proctoring systems guarantee that only qualified specialists will graduate.

3. Distance education requires a new level of infrastructure.

When the pandemic forced the world to go online, most countries trying to provide distance education faced various technical challenges. Technological infrastructure was far from being ready for the full transition to online learning. Internet providers, data centers, and popular messenger developers all had to adapt rapidly to a dramatic demand and load increase.

We also had cases when students from different countries did not have computers, Internet connections, or other tools that met the technical requirements for online proctoring systems to work. However, the need to pass the exam made users purchase modern equipment, while universities and schools had to improve their technical infrastructure. Thus, our proctoring systems have indirectly stimulated the expansion of high-tech networks.

We predict that, even when the pandemic ends, trends in online education development will remain firmly on track. Corporations will continue to keep some staff working and training remotely. Online retraining and career development courses will become even more popular, and universities will maintain a blended learning approach. In all cases, reliable proctoring systems will be necessary to monitor learning progress. Therefore, we expect increasing demand for our proctoring technology, and we do our best to ensure excellent quality and provide the highest level of infrastructure for new customers.